True Story (2015)

A drama centered around the relationship between journalist Michael Finkel and Christian Longo, an FBI Most Wanted List murderer who for years lived outside the U.S. under Finkel's name. (imdb)
Cast and Information
Directed By: Rupert Goold
Written By: David Kajganich
Starring: James Franco, Jonah Hill, Gretchen Mol, Ethan Suplee, Felicity Jones, Maria Dizzia, Robert John Burke, Robert Stanton, Rebecca Henderson, Betty Gilpin, Maryann Plunkett, Dana Eskelson
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Where to Stream
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True Story belongs to 11 collections
1. Based on a Book (collaborative: moderated by iconogassed - 21 stars)
2. Directorial debut (collaborative: moderated by djross - 16 stars)
3. Based on true events (collaborative: moderated by iconogassed - 12 stars)
4. True crime (collaborative: moderated by djross - 11 stars)
5. Top 3000 movies with the most votes on IMDb (public: fanfic - 5 stars)
6. Sundance 2015 - Premieres (collaborative: moderated by chemical404)
7. Ratings (collaborative: moderated by cheapthrills)
8. Netflix France (collaborative: moderated by bfn)
9. My Movies (public: Thilerion)
10. 2015 (public: ccllanos)
11. seen in 2017 (public: sproost)
Browse the full list of collections
Stars | User | Rating | |
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eCitizen | 30 18th |
The story may be true, but they somehow sucked the excitement out of it. It drags along, seeming to go someplace but ultimately fails to deliver. It spends entirely too much time on the relationship between Michael Finkel and Christian Longo and not enough time on anything interesting, such as the events that occurred or the evasion and capture of a killer. Franco gave a mostly stoic performance. Jonah Hill also showed little range of emotion. Screenplay and direction was not great.
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Cowman | 55 19th |
Not completely terrible considering the cast, just boring and pointless.
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bowfinger | 50 42nd |
The Wink: The Movie.
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d_r_e_s_ | 2 31st |
Interesting start, but ends up being unsatisfying. It's a simple straight narrative storyline with a few gratuitous flashbacks. Franco had some striking moments. *Okay
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2 | timmytom | 65 43rd |
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Not Capote
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Matthew Parkinson (CineMarter) | 40 31st |
A mediocre-at-best retelling of real events, True Story doesn't offer any insight to make it worth sitting through. The two leading performances almost make it worthwhile. For fans of Hill and Franco it may be worth a rental. [Full Review]
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Hofschneider | 33 4th |
A movie, only possible in the hipster-millennials-James-Franco-day & age: Twists for the sake of the twists! Back flashes for the sake of back flashes - so stupid, wrong that they become unethical! Nothing makes sense in this movie! Every emotion is fake! All constructions implode! They didn't even care if the mobiles were on the market 2002! And shortly before the end: A judge tells me that manipulating (for the sake of manipulating) is bad. Wow, that I call one ignorant bastard of a movie!
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Catnip | 50 34th |
*groan* I really would've liked to like this, it has a really nice atmosphere with a lot of underlying suspense and mystery, but that just dissolves like... half throughout the movie. And I know it may be based on a true story (haha) but the whole thing just doesn't go anywhere. They don't spend enough time on Chris Longo (Franco) to get you to like the supposed psychopath or understand the weird attraction between him and Finkel, and the ending is so anti-climatic it literally made me yawn.
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1 | bizort | 50 26th |
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This film smugly, condescendingly smiles at you, as you roll your eyes in return
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ChrisPalm | 69 20th |
I actually like Jonah's acting, i think he has alot of talent despite his "rep". The script is just too weak, and the twist wich could have been very well executed is almost made boring.
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elmakebabi | 50 21st |
So what?
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WWallce4prez | 45 10th |
Unfortunately, the well done tone and atmosphere are ruined by a lackluster narrative that is sluggishly ordinary. I've always thought James Franco could be a serial killer.
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Stewball | 80 80th |
Well written and very well acted mystery/crime drama is very engaging while on screen, but fades in retrospect.
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Gideon | 2 59th |
This story probably deserved a better script and director, yet True Story is far from a bad movie. The story is compelling, the acting is overall rather strong and it is indeed somewhat gripping. Decent film.
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cat9man | 80 58th |
Chilling - Pathological liar Franco is most convincing and egoist Jonah Hill becomes his final victim
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Superargo | 49 29th |
A litmus test of extreme unpleasantness, and Goold's not a great director--he montages and juxtaposes a lot of stuff just cuz it looks kewl--but Franco delivers a strong performance, and the story's intriguing and bizarre enough to keep you interested throughout. Only at the end do you realize this trip never really took you anywhere, and by then, of course, it's already over.
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1 | PUNQ | 40 59th |
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The acting performances Jonah Hill & James Franco are really good, and is what carries this True Story (2015). For the murder mystery isn't really anything out of the ordinary as far as murder cases goes. Pretty straight forward without any major twists. This one goes more after morals and character of those involved and I guess that's where it hits, which is a little below the belt.
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JaiGuy | 60 10th |
The only reason I watched this was because I was curious about how two buddies who are used to doing silly movies together would approach serious subject matter. There's probably a lot more to glean from the subtext in the original book than this 'filler' of a movie provided.
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1 | PluggedIN | 40 35th |
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It's a salient point as we encounter movies like True Story--movies with something to say, but say it in discomforting ways. Some say it's important to engage with such stories, arguing that it's necessary to dig deep into the dark depths to pull out what truth and meaning we can. Others say there's little reason to muddy our minds, insisting that life's too short and too precious a gift to spend our treasured minutes in the mire. (pluggedin.com)
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jenner1407 | 50 4th |
This could-be wicked little cat-and-mouse game falls flat due to tonal missteps and its woeful miscasting of Hill in particular. Not that Christian Longo deserves any better...
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joel-w-m | 4 12th |
Has all the makings of a solid drama-thriller-a stirring psychological premise, striking cinematography, an unsettling stringed soundtrack-but a shoddy script (not helped by Franco's flat performance as the killer in question) continually disappoints with its lifeless dialogue, suspense-less plot (the courtroom climax is anything but), underwhelming pay-off (the stolen identity bit is resolved in one sentence), and surface-y relationships (Finkel and Jill's never warrants Jones' tense looks).
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ModernMillie | 80 49th |
Good, but not an action thriller. Think I was more impressed with Franco and Hill expanding themselves to play a drama instead of their usual adolescent comedies.
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hakkanarejo | 75 17th |
Truth is strange new collaboration for James Franco and Jonah Hill. In Franco's case, this macabre project plays right into the label-defying star's ongoing exploration of slippery identities. Even so, one wonders just how eager audiences will be to watch a tony adaptation of ex-New York Times reporter Michael Finkel's self-serving memoir, a conscience-cleanser written to redeem himself after being tarred and feathered for inventing a composite character in a high-profile cover story.
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Average Percentile 34% from 438 Ratings | ![]() |